Enlightenment
by VanillaJasmine
Summary: Space is cold. When an expedition goes badly wrong, Nyota is left stranded on the edge of nowhere. Alone and fighting for her life, will the voice at the end of the communicator be able to save her? Learn to trust, learn to fight, learn to love again, and learn that loneliness can take many a form.
1. Chapter 1

It was cold. Perishing. The air held a metallic sting, the surface beneath her felt hard and raw, her chilled body locked in place for sheer preservation. Nyota's eyes began to open, her vision was blurred, her head throbbed and muscles clenched at the cold. Her own hand came into focus before her as her field of vision was clouded mostly by darkness, sudden sparks of light burst around her, and wisps of smoke were illuminated by broken lights. She was on the floor, in pain, cold, and barely able to remember a thing. As she blinked her surroundings back into life, her senses swam back to her, foggy but inexcusable.

The consoles in the room around her flared, broken and irreparable. It was dark, bar the odd spark and the effort of one of the rooms lights flickering hopelessly. In the distance, the faded wail of an alarm rang out. As Nyota sat up, she wrapped her arms around herself tightly, eyes scouring the devastation of the ship she was on.

They were on a roaming class ship, on an targeted exploration just outside the Laurentian system. Minimal crew, all officers, some Enterprise personnel, some Apollo and some Sterling. The crew made up Twenty-four people in total, but all of whom Nyota cared about.

She sat, looking at the wreckage, and couldn't remember what happened. Flashes erupted through her mind; explosions, weapon fire, raised voices and barked orders. Consoles blared and alarms activated. Everything had gone wrong. This room was small and she was alone. Looking over her shoulder, the automatic doors had ceased to function, stuck half open, the frame bent out of shape with exposed wires spilling sparks to the metal floor. Down the corridor, more devastation loomed beneath the darkness, outlines of bodies lay in the cold.

Carefully, Nyota took a breath and got herself to her feet, steadying herself on the debris of a chair. She was cold, ached with numerous cuts and bruises, but seemed largely unscathed. Her breath fell in clouds before her as she focused on the low, guttural hum of the ship. Whatever power was left, auxiliary or otherwise was still functioning, but slowly failing, life support wouldn't hold out much longer if it was already this cold. Cautiously moving forward, she assessed the comm. screens were cracked and yet even though fractured energy was still powering parts of the console, nothing was responsive or useable. There was no way any of this equipment would be able to establish contact to anyone.

She shivered. Cold seeping through her skin. Dressed in her starfleet reds and boots, her exposed legs prickled with the cold. She needed to find something warmer or she would freeze to death. Nyota made her way toward the doors, carefully avoiding the broken cables and slipping through the gap. She steeled herself as she moved forward down the corridor, she could feel her heart beginning to thump in her chest with the anxiety of what she might face in this devastation. She gently clasped a hand to her face as she approached a body on the ground. Lieutenant Green. She crouched by the man who lay face down, motionless. She touched his arm, nudging him before feeling his neck. His skin was cold, and no sign of life fluttered beneath it.

Nyota sniffed and rose quickly to her feet, exhaling a shaky breath at what else was to come. She peered through the shadows down the corridor.

 _"You're coming right? I'd be lost without my best linguistics officer."_

Kirks voice echoed in her head, a flash of his smile, his eyes, his charm and excitement. She walked forward, past another body, too covered by debris to be identifiable. Tears began to pool in her eyes, she sniffled again.

 _"There is plenty of information to suggest that this will be a worthwhile avenue of exploration."_ Nyota remembered Spock's words. _"On a personal note, it is an avenue I would like to explore with you by my side."_

The sound of the alarm was getting louder. Another broken door stood between the corridor and the bridge of the little ship, but these doors were almost closed. There was not enough space for Nyota to squeeze in, even with her slender frame. She peered through the gap onto the bridge, panic rising further in her.

"Captain?!" She shouted. "Spock?!"

Wiping her nose on her sleeve, she exhaled a cloud of air, slotting her palms in the gap between the doors and using all her might to try to heave the doors open.

She groaned, the doors budged an inch. Switching her angle slightly and pushing again, they moved a little further. Nyota exhaled, letting her arms drop, aching, feeling a pain shoot through her left shoulder, she grimaced. She would need a leverage of some kind. Scanning the area, further down the corridor a large part of the wall had taken a beating, and on the floor amongst the debris lie a crooked length of metal railing. Picking up the cold tube, she returned to the door, wedging it like a crow-bar and leaning her weight into it.

The doors gave way, metal railing falling from her grasp and clattering on the cold floor. Hopping through the gap, Nyota stepped onto the bridge, tears wet her eyes as she rubbed her left shoulder.

Bodies lay strewn around the room. Draped over consoles, on the floor, some under debris. Through the darkness, and flickering light, Nyota noticed the body of a person all to familiar collapsed on the floor.

"Spock!"

She rushed to him, putting aside her own pains.

"Spock, Spock." She knelt beside him, touching his shoulders, tears falling helplessly down her cheeks. "Spock wake up, Spock! Can you hear me? Please."

Desperately, she checked him for signs of life, but he was motionless. In the minimal light she noticed his right leg trapped under large pieces of the ceiling that had caved in. Green blood caught the flickering light, she noticed how it pooled out from under him.

A sob wracked her as she tilted him to see his face, skin wax-like and drained. She nuzzled his hair.

"Please Spock, no." She sobbed, managing a whisper. "I love you."

A sudden noise caught her attention, a cough like splutter. Raising her head slightly from Spock's, she looked across the floor under the dented view-screen for the source, making out another figure laying, trapped under more debris. A difficult groan escaped them.

Nyota found her feet wobbly, and moved quickly to the person on the ground. It was Kirk.

"Jim?"

Another groan was her response. Frantically she looked about the debris, it blocked half the screen, covering him. A console and the wall sandwiching him in. Carefully, she climbed over the pieces of broken console, finding a spot where she could get to him. He was in a bad way, crushed worse than Spock, the heavy debris staunching his blood flow causing him to bleed out far slower than normal. Nyota looked about the blood, his stained clothes. His lips and teeth stained from internal bleeding, trickling down his cheek. A torturous death. He tried to gasp for air, Nyota found his hand.

"I'm here Jim, it's okay." She hushed him. It wasn't okay. Everything was far from okay, but what the hell do you say to a person with seconds left to live? She could feel him trying to squeeze her hand, but he had no strength.

"I-… I'm sorry…" He managed, barely a whisper.

Nyota stifled a sob and gently shook her head as she held his gaze, watching his focus drift and the light fade from his eyes. He was gone.

Nyota didn't know how long she sat there, holding his hand, numb as tears poured down her face at the devastation around her. Kirks hand was cold in hers now, she gently let him go, laying his palm across his chest and closing his eyes.

The ship still hummed, but it was getting colder. She needed to get to the supplies room, she needed a space suit, and somehow, she needed to contact home.

Moving across the small bridge, she found her communications post amongst the wreckage. Nyota flicked the switches, tapped the screens, pressed all buttons and entered all sequences she could think of and finally, a garbled alert sound greeted her, she activated the microphone.

"This is a distress signal from the roaming explorer, the USS Enlightenment." She reported. "We are damaged, beyond repair, with multiple fatalities. Auxiliary power is failing. Life support is failing. Last know coordinates; 498.876.539. Urgent help needed."

The comm crackled, she entered the emergency distress signal and sent it, hoping, praying that it sent, that it worked, that it had enough warped energy left in it to put out the flare.

Nyota felt rigid with cold. She flexed her fingers and knees, making a move toward the bridge doors, looking back on the room, the bodies, the people she loved, dead. Wiping her eyes as she left, she made her way toward finding the supplies room.


	2. Chapter 2

"Commander Harrison. The report on the launch analysis from last week, sir." Rich purple manicured fingers held out a PADD for Khan to take. After nearly a year he was still unused to being addressed by a different name, a name that was not actually his own.

He turned to the owner of the manicured hand, taking the device. "Thank you, Lieutenant."

She smiled at him. The lieutenant was of average height, pale skin, long blonde hair falling in ringlets over her shoulders, clipped tidily with pins over each of her ears. She had green eyes, and precisely pink lips. She turned to leave him, but hesitated, half turning toward him again.

"We are still on for tonight, aren't we John?" She asked quietly, eyes taking in the sculpt of his face.

"Of course, Evelyn." He replied, treating her to the sly smile she was waiting for. She smiled, skipping off back to her duties in administration.

Khan exhaled, returning to his work. She was a nice enough woman. Undeniably beautiful, he often saw other officers and men ogling her, or flirting with her. She had reasonable level of intelligence, he respected her job in administration as it's not easy being part of the team who kept track of the entirety of Starfleet. She was one of the few administrators who knew about the work of section 31, so was one of the officers he liaised with occasionally for reports and PADDs.

He had seen straight through her from the moment they met. Her body language was shy, yet suggestive. She twirled the ends of her hair absentmindedly as they spoke, she would always chat with him, ask about his welfare when they saw one and other. So after a few weeks, Khan decided to indulge, and ask her on a date. They had been on one date so far, to the Luna Lounge. A bar on one of the Starfleet outposts on the Moon. It captured the history of the first man on the moon, and was a popular location among personnel. They had a good night, and even though she had wanted him and he, on a primal level had wanted her, he had been a gentleman. Yet he couldn't honestly say he felt anything for her. She would be suitable for a dalliance, to satisfy some cravings and some urges. He was fairly sure he'd have no trouble finding comfort between her ample, voluptuous, brea-

"Commander."

An unfavourable voice distracted him from his thoughts.

He looked up to see Admiral Marcus.

"Close up here, you're done for the day." He ordered, leaving as quickly as he arrived and expecting Khan to follow.

Khan sighed, begrudgingly doing as instructed.

xxxx

Evelyn giggled as they stepped into the elevator to take them up to Khan's apartment. She smoothed her hair out in the lifts mirrored walls, seductively making eye contact with him as the doors closed behind them.

She turned and kissed him as they stepped into his home. She'd wanted to do that all night, and Khan was going to indulge. His hands found her waist, pushing her to the nearest wall and sliding his hands to her wrists, pinning her hands above her head. She sighed into their kiss. He loosened his grip and she grabbed his shirt collar, gently pushing him.

"Bedroom." She breathed. He led the way.

He tugged the hem of her dress, gliding it up over her head and throwing it to the floor, he pulled off his own shirt, moving back to kiss her, when the light from his computer caught his eye.

His machine was completely hacked, operating on a system undetectable to Starfleet yet open to any and every frequency and channel from across identifiable space. There were a few usual notifications and signals that he received from the few planets he had on tab, but something different was there. A red outline, flashing. He'd picked up something he didn't recognise.

Evelyn held his neck, trying to draw him near her again.

"Hang on." He whispered, walking to his computer. He pressed buttons on the machine, entering various numbers to unlock it. He clicked on the notification and it loaded a scrambled mess, he frowned, but manicured hands had found their way onto his body before he could try and decipher it.

"Leave it for now." She purred, running her hands down his stomach, over his trousers, "Come to me."

He sighed, too distracted by the hands now undoing his trousers. Khan turned to her, scooping her up and ravaging her neck, it could wait for now…

xxxx

The space suit locker door was jammed. Nyota pulled it and it stuck. Grabbing the lever with both hands she gave it a hefty tug, and the broken panel fell off its hinges. She kicked it aside angrily, wiped a few escaped tears from her face and grabbed what she needed from the locker. Suit, boots, oxygen tank, radio communicator. She paused, looking at the communicator, not like there was anyone to communicate with exactly. Switching the device on, she programmed it to long range frequency signals, and sent out a basic distress call. The radio comms could only manage short range, but it was a chance she had to take.

Quickly, she changed out of her tattered Starfleet dress, and into basics, feeling warmer already, climbing into the suit was like momentarily climbing into a warm bath. She sighed. It would be a comfort for now, but as the ships essential systems continued to fail, she would feel the bitter cold again.

Nyota had no concept of time. None of the consoles or equipment had enough energy running through it to even power a clock. There was no sun or orbiting moons to gauge the time from. She sat on the floor of the bridge, slumped against the captains chair among the dead, staring out into the vast black nothing before her and cried. So many talented lives wasted, and after so many years learning, pining, striving, succeeding; this too looked to be her end.

xxxx

Khan's eyes opened to find green ones already watching him softly.

"Good morning handsome." Evelyn hummed. Khan smiled. "Good morning."

She kissed him lovingly. "How long have you been awake for?" He asked.

"A minute or so."

He kissed her again, enjoying the company and warmth of waking up to a woman in his bed. It had been such a long time, but he was at least proud enough to be able to say he hadn't lost any skill. Eyes flickering open, he glimpsed his computer screen across the room and remembered the scrambled signal he'd received yesterday. He broke their kiss. Evelyn made a noise of disappointment.

"We should get up." Khan said, trying to gently encourage her to leave without actively kicking her out.

"I think we could have five more minutes…" She suggested. He glanced at the clock over her shoulder.

"It's 08:23am." He told her.

"Oh shit!"

Evelyn practically sprang out of bed. "The Admirals have their analysis meeting today in an hour!" She darted about to find her shoes and clothes. "I've got to go, I'm so sorry!" She pulled last nights dress on looking apologetic. Khan got out of bed, pulling on a black robe to show her to the door.

"It's no problem." He said, secretly glad at how easy her leaving had been. She kissed him quickly at the door.

"See you later."

"See you."

Khan returned immediately to the bedroom, taking the chair at his desk and sitting at the computer, he re-accessed the scrambled message he had received last night. It was long-form transmission, parts of the code had been erased or not sent properly. It was obviously a distress signal yet where it was sent from and who by was for now undeterminable. Knowing that Admiral Marcus had a meeting this morning bought him some time. He broke into the file, broke it down, extracted and re-worked it, slowly piecing back together the puzzling distress signal. When he looked up from his computer again, the sun had shifted half way across the sky. It had taken nearly all the day, but he could finally see the signal was an audio package. Sitting back in his chair and watching the screen intently, he pressed play.


	3. Chapter 3

_"_ _Captain Kirk is correct, Nyota. There is no logical evidence to prove the existence of this parasitic life-form." Spock said, placing his PADD on the nearby table as they entered his apartment._

 _"_ _I know." Nyota sighed, flopping down on the couch. She chewed a hangnail on the side of her finger and stared into the distance, lost in thought for a moment. "It just seems so spooky though, don't you think?"_

 _"_ _Spooky?"_

 _Spock faced her, confused. It made her smile, but her concern returned to her._

 _"_ _It's a perfectly good outpost; perfectly built, perfectly useable, but one-hundred and twenty years ago it's just suddenly abandoned and no one knows why? Out of the blue, it's dropped and no one goes near it ever again." She explained. "You have to believe one of the theories about it, right?"_

 _"_ _Indeed, it is logical to listen to all avenues of thought regarding the abandonment of the outpost, but then reach the most likely conclusion based on the highest probability of fact. Not the 'spookiest' theory."_

 _Nyota sighed again, pressing her lips together. Spock sat beside her on the couch._

 _"_ _I believe that the outpost was not just abandoned over night, it is highly likely a fault or other circumstance of the time resulted in the area being no longer useable. There are multiple situations that early Starfleet may have faced that would result in the closure of an outpost, and this could fit any number of them. It's our duty to go and see exactly which one fits."_

 _Nyota cuddled into him, trying to relax. He put his arm around her in the manner to which he had become accustomed to when 'couch cuddling'._

 _"_ _Well, call it human intuition, I just can't shake a strange feeling about this exploration."_

xxxx

 _'_ _This is a distress signal fr-… USS Enlightn..ent… damaged… repair… mul… tiple fatalities… Auxiliary pow-…failing. Life… failing. Last kno-… 6.539… help…'_

Khan had worked for hours, missed a whole day at the base, but he was intrigued. This was as clear as he could get the message to be, piecing together the broken bands of the radio waves.

"Khan, what is your location?"

An incoming voice call activated on the PADD beside him. He picked it up off the table, thinking quickly, not ready to confront Admiral Marcus and not wanting to share any details about this strange message. He opened the call.

"I am in my apartment, Sir."

"Why?" Marcus sat back in his chair, piercing eyes peering as if to try and see the answer somewhere behind him in his house.

"I got caught up with some reports at home." Khan replied, casually. Marcus watched him a moment longer.

"I want the structure analysis for the prototype warheads by tomorrow on my desk, first thing. Understand?"

"Yes, sir." Khan replied through gritted teeth, all to happy to end the call and return to the distress signal.

He ran his hands through his hair and sighed, staring at the screen, thinking.

Source Tracker.

His mind raced again. Quickly he entered all the programming he knew to trace the source of a message, altering it here and there to compensate for the lack of information in the signal. Soon, he had targeted the end coordinates along with a range of starting numbers and entered a basic response signal.

 _Query 401: Distress Signal Received: Response Code 885._

With all long range transmissions set to the furthest capacity Khan's computer could handle, he sent the response. Sitting back, he looked up from his desk and out of the windows. The sun was setting on the horizon, bathing London in a rose gold blanket. He could only hope his efforts would pay off.

xxxx

Nyota was angry. And scared, and cold. Tears frequently fell down her cheeks, involuntarily. She was afraid of dying here alone, devastated by the loss around her and of her beloved Spock, and angry that she was so helpless.

Pacing the room, she exhaled sharply, growling to herself. She shut her eyes and slowly inhaled, forcing herself to focus.

"Stop it. Now listen to me." She told herself sternly. "This is where you are. This is what's happened. You are not useless. You have to do something, try something, anything!" She took a few more breaths, opened her eyes and wiped her face.

Looking around she ignored the bodies and the cold. "Besides, how much more damage could you possibly do?" She whispered.

Engine room, she thought, if she could get to the engine room, maybe she could access a computer to try and divert whatever power was left to life support and communication systems. That way, any power that was leaking from broken consoles, rooms and lights would be put into giving her a fighting chance at survival.

As she made her way toward the door, a strangled beep alerted from the communications comm. Forgetting all plans, she dashed over to it. A signal. She tried to load it on the screen above the console, but the power in the comm was distorted, parts of the screen were cracked and blacked out, she could not make it out. She bit her lip, and quickly returned to her original plan.

Running off the bridge, she made her way via staircases to the engine room. The ships access computer had its own small supply of power, and was the only computer on the ship unharmed. She thumped it with her fist, cursing it for not being interconnected to Starfleets network. Accessing the power grid, she was able to lift the panel and divert all remaining auxiliary power to a few rooms on the top floor of the ship. It meant running back up to the bridge in the dark, and that the oxygen to other levels would begin to thin out, but if it meant power to the communications system, to a way out, she had to do it.

Activating the personal light source on her space suit, she took a breath, entered the code and flipped the switch to divert the ships auxiliary power. Enlightenment hummed, before stuttering slightly, and plunging her into darkness. Nyota turned her back and leaned on the comm, eyes adjusting, the hum of energy a lower sound than before. Feeling a pulse of fear jolt her spine, she made her way quickly back to the bridge, dodging bodies and debris, being mindful of her footfalls.

On the bridge, the communications comm glowed a dull light. Two out of the six screens were working and nearly all of her buttons and switched gave off dull light. It wasn't much, but it was powered. She called up the signal and there it was, a shining beacon of hope, a distress query.

Nyota smiled, tears of relief fell down her cheeks. Wiping her face she got straight to work, wasting no time in responding directly to the message while she still could.

xxxx

 _"_ _Our main story this morning: The crew of the USS Enlightenment have been reported as lost. The roaming explorer set out on a mission last month to the outer Laurentian system to uncover the mystery of the abandoned outpost on planet Karora."_

Khan had been barely listening to the view screen in his kitchen, but this article caught his attention. He stirred his coffee continuously, eyes glued to the screen and the reporter. He hardly slept last night, his mind too focused on the broken distress signal.

" _Communication was lost with the explorer a week ago. Last known coordinates place the ship within the outer confines of the system, but communicated contact and search ships have been unsuccessful in locating the craft."_

Khan stared. A week was a long time for a person to survive on a devastated ship. Assuming the distress signal had come from the USS Enlightenment, whats to say it hadn't been an echo? A transmission so warped that in the time it took to reach Earth, its last remaining crew members had perished? He sighed, all his efforts of the previous day may yet have been wasted. Switching off the screen, he walked into his bedroom to prepare for another begrudging day of being under the Admiral's thumb.


	4. Chapter 4

Nyota sat slumped in what was left of the captain's chair. An open can of cold beans resting on her chest, spoon dug into the tomatoey legumes. The debris around her popped the occasional spark, she was lethargically amazed by how quickly she had become accustomed to the devastation. No longer noticing the faint looming smell of bodies and metal around her, she found herself slowly drifting off to sleep, numb to the wonder of a reply to her second signal.

 _'System authorisation required'_

The voice of the computer startled her. Falling off the chair, she stumbled to her feet and over to the comm.

 _'System authorisation re-'_

The screen cut out, fizzling into static. Nyota frowned, thumping it with a fist, the lights of the room flickered, and the ship's dull hum faltered as suddenly a thud jolted her and the debris around her.

Holding on to the comm, she scrambled over it to look out of the view screen. It felt as if the ship had drift into something. An asteroid? Space debris? She peered out, only seeing white dots of stars before her.

 _'Proximity '-ert, proximity '-ert'_ The computers voice was distorted as it tried to issue a warning. Looking back out into space, she notices a hunk of metal drifting away from the Enlightenment, and came to the conclusion of space debris. It was more than likely they'd bump into things without any active sensors or piloting.

The room faltered again, energy surged through the bridge, sparking out the console in the centre, and the ship's computer. The power flickered in the communications comm.

"No!" Nyota dashed to it, palms flat on the desk, terrified its energy might overload, desperately willing it to stay alive. After a minute, it settled.

She let out a shaky sigh of relief, relaxing her shoulders and letting her head drop.

 _"Can you-… hear me..?"_

Nyota's attention snapped up to the faint, static voice.

" _Hel-lo..?"_

She frantically adjusted the frequency, engaging the microphone.

"Hello?! I'm here!" She responded, "Hello, do you copy?"

A crackling silence hung before her, she dare not blink in case she had just dreamed the voice coming out of the console.

 _"Enlightenment?"_ A mans voice asked, crackling followed again. _"Ah, that's better."_ Suddenly the voice was crystal clear. Nyota swallowed back tears.

"Yes this is Enlightenment. The ship has been devastated, I'm the only survivor. Help me."

 _"Alright, do not panic."_ The British voice said, and strangely, Nyota did feel a little calmer, relieved to have established some kind of contact. " _What is your exact location?"_

"I don't know." She replied, "All my systems are down, I've no computer, and I've diverted what's left of auxiliary power to life support, but it won't hold out for much longer."

 _"Set all of your frequency transmitters to maximum capacity; I'm going to try to upload a temporary computer system to your ship."_ The voice told her, she obeyed.

"Okay, set."

Silence hung for a long moment, before the screen before her blinked into a new system programme. A harmonic staccato of bleeps replayed calmly from the comm.

 _'Reading ship system.'_ The computers voice was that of a calm English woman. _'Enlightenment. Starfleet class Federation Surveyor, Kelvin-type. Current star date: 2259.42. Time: 11:52hours Earth, British Summer Time. The temperature is ten-degrees celsius and falling. There is one complex life-form aboard this ship.'_

 _"Well hello complex life-form."_ The man said through the comm, _"Do you have a name?"_

"Uhura. Lieutenant Uhura."

 _"Well Lieutenant, according to the coordinates I'm getting now you appear to be drifting into the Sarojan system."_ He told her, _"Unchartered space indeed…"_

Nyota could hear the thought in the man's voice. "I just wanna get out of here." She sighed.

 _"Working on it, as I said, do not panic."_

"How soon can I expect a Starfleet rescue ship now they have my coordinates?"

 _"Technically Starfleet do not have your coordinates." He said, "But I do, and I am much better than Starfleet."_

Doubt pulsed through her. "What do you mean? Who are you?"

 _"My name is…"_ There was a pause. _"My name is Khan."_

"Khan. That your real name?" She heard what sounded like a faint laugh.

 _"Yes, it is."_

"Well, _Khan,_ if you would be so good as to pass on my coordinates to Starfleet so they can send help out, that'd be appreciated."

 _"Small problem with that. Starfleet believe you are dead. Starfleet believes your entire crew is dead. You haven't contacted Earth in a week, and rescue ships have tried and failed to find you."_

"So tell them I'm alive! Tell them they were wrong! Give them the coordinates. _Help me._ "

 _"Yes, I shall."_

The signal cut, a code appeared on screen stating the communication had been terminated.

"What the-? Hello?!" Khan was gone.

She couldn't believe it. "Asshole."

xxxx

"The circuitry to the fuel compartment is much better on this one." Admiral Marcus made comment as he studied the new structure analysis for the prototype warheads. Khan stood, observing, thinking only about Lieutenant Uhura on the USS Enlightenment.

"Now, see what you can create for me when you just cooperate and do as I ask." He smirked. It was the nearest thing the man could manage to a compliment.

"A more pressing matter has come to light." Khan said, interrupting the analysis. Marcus stopped toying with the hologram simulation before him.

"What exactly would that be then?"

"Whilst working on the prototypes I came across a signal, Sir, a distress signal. It is from the USS Enlightenment. There are survivors."

Marcus eyed him.

"That ship was confirmed lost, Khan. Starfleets best searched for them, you expect me to believe they overlooked something?"

"Yes, I do."

"The Enlightenment is none of your concern Khan." The Admiral dismissed him, turning his attention back to the warhead. "Focus on your own section, focus on the work you are doing for me. We have more pressing problems."

"Admiral…" Khan tried to push him.

"I don't want to hear it Khan. The Enlightenment is gone. Get back to work." He gestured to the door.

If only doors were still slam-able, Khan thought to himself as he angrily left the room. If the Admiral wasn't prepared to take him seriously, he would help the Lieutenant himself. He could not just stand by and do nothing when he knew perfectly well there was a person alive up there.

xxxx

 _'The temperature is six-degrees celsius and falling.'_

Nyota shivered. Life support was failing. The glow of energy powering the comm was getting duller, soon she would be out of power completely, left to freeze to death in this oblivion.

She bombarded the transmission line Khan had contacted her on. Hailing and signalling, trying everything to get him to respond. He might have been rude, but right now he was the only chance she had to get back to Earth.

An alert notified on screen, one which Nyota did not expect to see.

 _'Docking Bay: AirLock one opened.'_

She grit her teeth, and quickly called up the ships security cameras, sparing some energy to bring up the camera in the bay. It was pitch black, this was pointless, she couldn't see anything. Activating the microphone, she accessed the ships channel.

"Hello? Has someone boarded?"

This wasn't right. She would have to manually allow access to someone wanting to get onto the ship, involving authorising the opening of an airlock. Turning her attention back to the security camera, she saw something dart across the screen.

 _'There are two complex life-forms aboard this ship… of which one is human.'_


	5. Chapter 5

There were no weapons stored on the bridge. Nyota would need to make her way down to supplies to arm herself. Unfortunately, the supplies room was opposite the docking bay.

She took shallow breaths as she stepped along the corridors down. It was colder on the lower decks of the ship already, the walls felt cold as she tracked her hand along, steadily guiding her forward where her personal light source could not.

Quietly descending the metal steps, she reached the floor of the docking bay and supplies. Nyota froze in the shelter of a broken door, she could hear something. Her fingers found her light source, temporarily switching it off. She held her breath in the dark, listening.

The faint sound of purring echoed down the hallway. The purr was interspersed with a series of clicking and slurping noises, it sounded wet and gooey. Nyota covered her mouth to exhale, turning, she stepped through the broken door into the darkness.

Tiptoeing down the corridor, she knew the docking bay was on the left, and the supplies room was on the right. She hugged the right side wall, slowly feeling her way down the corridor, carefully placing measured footfalls to the ground to ensure she made as little noise as possible.

The purring got louder, gurgling and slurping. If she wasn't so frightened, Nyota might almost say the thing sounded happy. She knew she was nearing the doors as a stench hit her. She covered her mouth and nose, desperately trying not to wretch. The smell was foul, the thinning air hung with the stench of deceased flesh and blood. Sidestepping evermore slowly, her fingers found the open supply room doors. She backed into the room, tucking herself into a corner to listen again.

While the noise was now louder as she was nearer the source, it did not appear to have changed. Tiptoeing into the room, she cupped her hand over her light source and switched it back on, the light diffused through her fingers, providing her with an aid to her vision.

She found the phaser locker, arming herself as the noise changed. Happy gurgling was cut off by an inquisitive array of clicks. Nyota glanced out the doors and through into the docking bay, noticing something shift in the darkness. She extinguished her power source.

It was suddenly silent. Her heart fell into her stomach as one hand froze around the phaser, the other hovering around her light source. The sound of soft footfalls carried, it was moving.

In the dark, Nyota tried to get her bearings. She needed to get back to the bridge, to safety, to the computer. From there, maybe she could figure out a way to seal it off. The footfalls stopped. She held her breath.

After a long moment, the gurgling started up again. Slopping and slurping, Nyota grimaced, assuming this thing could only be eating the corpses of her crew mates.

Carefully finding her way out of the room, she made her way as quickly as she could back down the corridor towards the metal staircase that would take her up the decks. Nearing the broken doors, distancing herself from the sound, Nyota cautiously flicked her light source on again.

The light seeped through her finger diffusion efforts, hitting the wall at the end of the corridor and catching the attention of the thing. She heard a hiss, like a sharp intake of breath, and saw a shadow dart up the wall behind her, wet footfalls approaching her, fast.

She switched the light source off again, hoping the darkness would offer her a chance at cover. Running for the direction of the stairs, she tripped up the first step as she reached it. Violent toned clicks echoed loudly, it was so close to her now. Scrambling to her feet, she leapt up the stairs, jumping the debris of the door at the top and running down the next corridor, not stopping to look back.

Once she had made it up another floor, she stopped running. Panting in the dark, legs shaking, heart pounding in her ears and sweat running down her neck, she rest her hands on her knees, holding her breath to listen.

It was quiet here. All she could hear was the hum of the ship again. She exhaled a long breath, trying to steady her breathing and turned on her light to make it the rest of the way to the bridge.

On the deck, she squeezed through the doors and stood, shaking. She needed protection. While she was out of the woods, there was no way she felt safe. Nyota looked about, there was no power to seal the doors but she had to think of something to keep whatever that was away from her.

xxxx

Khan approached the Admirals office at the end of the work day, stack of PADDs in his arms collected from his work centre. He couldn't say his contribution to the work today was of any particular use, his mind was elsewhere…

"Have the records destroyed." Khan heard Marcus' voice, the doors already open. He paused outside to eavesdrop.

"It's not a violation of anything if it comes from an Admiral. It was my green light that set that mission off, now I want it off the books. No written reports, no media news reports, and definitely no public memorial services." Marcus stated in private conversation. "Send the necessary condolences and grievance counsel to the families, but I want nothing more on the matter. The goal was met."

"Sir." Khan announced himself.

"Hold on." Marcus said to the person he was engaged with, pausing their conversation.

"The days reports." Khan placed the PADDs on the desk. "I'll be turning in."

"Very well." He responded, disinterested, turning in his chair, back to his call.

Khan got to his computer as soon as he reached his home.

"Shutters activate." He asked the rooms computer. Slowly the blinds drew, shutting out the last of the daylight, the soft glow of houselights taking its place.

He awoke his comm, immediately tapping into the transmission to the USS Enlightenment.

"Uhura? Lieutenant Uhura are you there?"

He got no response, just static. Adjusting his frequency, he tried again.

"Uhura?"

" _Oh look, the asshole is back. Have you decided to finally help me?"_ She snapped, sounding out of breath.

"Why am I an 'asshole'? I told you I would help you."

 _"You said that then you disconnected on me for twelve hours! Thats what assholes do!"_

"I was helping you, it's just not been that simple."

 _"Oh, you think you got problems?"_ Nyota grunted, heaving a sigh.

"… What are you doing, Lieutenant?" Khan listened to her a moment, huffing away.

 _"There is something on this ship."_ She told him, her voice sounded echoey, like she was far away from the microphone. He heard a scraping noise, the sound of something being dragged. _"So I am temporarily barricading myself in on the bridge."_

"What is on the ship?" He said, tapping into the computer software he uploaded to Enlightenment. He read the data.

 _"I have no idea, all I know is it's definitely not human, but it likes to eat them."_

Khan studied the ship report. Temperature at one-degree celsius. Remaining power at eighteen percent. Complex lifeforms aboard ship; two.

"Have you seen it?"

 _"Sort of. When I found out something else was onboard, I decided to arm myself. Only trouble is the weapon supplies room is right opposite the docking bay, where it somehow got in. It was dark, I barely got a glimpse, but it chased me. It sounded… disgusting."_

"The parasite..?" Khan muttered to himself, thinking.

 _"What-?… Oh god!"_

"What's happened?" He snapped back to attention. Nyota made noises of upset.

 _"I… I'm moving debris… whose foot is that?"_

Khan frowned, casting the mental image aside and returning to his thinking.

"Listen, Uhura, you do not have much auxiliary power remaining. I'm going to access the computer and try to re-divert some of your ships power to secure you on the top levels and the bridge." He explained. "I need you to sit tight for a little while longer whilst I figure out how to get you out of there, okay?"

Nyota sighed, the sound of scraping and huffing died down, and he heard the crumpling of material. Her voice sounded clearer when she spoke again.

 _"Okay, Khan." She said, resigned "Not like I've got anywhere to go."_


	6. Chapter 6

**Hello lovelies. Sorry for the late upload, been a little pre-occupied the past week, but business should resume as normal now and I will try and upload every day or so. Thank you for all the kind words and support, I hope you're enjoying the story, your comments honestly mean the world to me. :) Take care of yourselves, and happy reading. :)**

An image displayed on Khan's computer of a dark green scaled, amphibious looking creature. About the side of a labrador, it had tentacles emerging from its shoulders, three blob-like feet on each side of its body with suckers on and a bulbous head, lacking in eyes but making up for it in mouth and strange markings that provided it with sensory feedback from its surroundings. A carnivorous creature, it was non-specific about its dietary requirements, so long as its food was squishy with plenty of flesh and blood, it would suffice, be that dead or still alive. It was a grotesque being, in more ways than one.

Khan feared that this was the creature aboard the Enlightenment with Nyota.

It had no scientific name as its existence had been refused acknowledgement by the world when the first whispers of it emerged as rumour. This was a dangerous beast. It could survive with or without oxygen, seemed to be able to adapt itself to any environment, making its way onto ships and devouring crew in order to inhabit and transport themselves from place to place. A spawned parasite, once it had eaten enough, was able to duplicate itself without the need for reproduction. The more food there was available, the more they would be able to duplicate, sucking the life out of their current environment before finding a way to move onto the next.

Khan's attention flicked between the image of the parasite and the encoded data he was working on. It was now two-thirty in the morning, he had been working non stop since he returned home.

 _"Y'know…"_ Nyota's sleep deprived voice fell softly through the comm. " _I think maybe I belong among the stars."_

Khan could hear her take a deep breath. He checked the ships computer data readout: temperature, minus-three degrees celsius and falling.

 _"I never felt like I fit anywhere on Earth, not properly."_ Nyota continued, _"I found out about Starfleet when I was seven, learning about it in school. I knew I wanted to join."_

"I never imagined a life for myself in Starfleet." Khan thoughtfully replied. "In fact, I was only enlisted to your Starfleet a few years ago."

 _"What do you mean, 'my Starfleet'?"_ She questioned. Khan smiled slightly, this woman may be tired, but she didn't miss anything.

"You have an ear for details." He commented.

 _"Well I am a communications officer."_ She replied, he could hear a smile of pride in her tone. _"So what did you mean?"_

"I wasn't always in Starfleet." He paused. He didn't know whether it was the hour, or the fact he was getting tired himself, but he felt comfortable in this moment, talking to Uhura. He decided to continue. "I used to be in the military, the Royal Air Force… but that was another lifetime."

 _"The Royal Air Force…"_ She thought. _"I recognise the name, but from history, there hasn't been a military air force since the first real stages of Starfleet…"_

"Yes…"

A silence hung between them for a moment.

 _"Were you some sort of re-enactor? Someone who gets out all the vintage crafts and to fly them for historical display ceremonies?"_ She asked.

Khan pressed his lips together, eyes falling to gaze at the desk a moment. Her brain gave her the most logical explanation it could come up with. Was there really any chance she would believe his story if he told her the truth? This woman who he'd only ever heard the voice of, who was stranded lightyears away from him…?

"Something like that…" He replied after a pause. He sighed, he couldn't bring himself to delve into it.

 _"Wow! That must have been-"_

The communication line crackled, static blocking her words. The line cut dead.

"Uhura? Can you hear me?" Khan tapped at the comm, re-entering sequences to try and restore the line. A sudden scream made him jump as the line fizzed back into existence.

 _"Shit shit shit!"_

"Lieutenant what's going on?" He was literally on the edge of his seat, as if being physically closer to the computer would in some way help her.

xxxx

The lights had gone, power was randomly surging through the bridge, and Nyota could hear something outside the barricaded door.

Regretting her startled outburst, she clasped her hand over her mouth to quieten any sound, yet Khan's voice urgently blared over the comm.

 _"Uhura?"_

"Sshh, I think it's here." She hushed him. "There's something outside the doors."

 _"It's okay, stay calm. If it's what I think it is, it won't be able to just break in to get inside."_

The noise outside persisted, sounding more curious by the second.

"' _Stay calm_ ' it's okay for you!"

 _"Panicking will not help you."_

Nyota sighed, clasping her hand over her mouth again. She knew he was right. A minute or so passed and the ships power had stopped surging, the noise outside also losing interest.

 _"Is it still there?"_ Khan checked.

"Yes. What do you think it is?"

 _"I cannot be one-hundred percent sure, but it may be a parasite."_

Nyota's heart fell into her shoes. She glanced at Spock's corpse on the floor, remembering the conversation they had before the mission began.

"The unacknowledged one?" She asked in whispered tones, "The one Starfleet refuse to recognise because of what it did to the people on the base on Karora?"

 _"That would be the one."_ Khan confirmed.

"Shit."

xxxx

Khan was multi-tasking; busily tapping away at the ships auxiliary power system to sustain Uhura's life support.

"How do you know about the parasite?" He asked her.

 _"Just through rumours and theories."_ She replied _"I was researching Karora before the mission, as I would before any mission, and this planet had so many conspiracies tied to it, it was hard to ignore. I guess there was something about the theory of these parasites that got under my skin."_

"That could be quite literally if you are not careful…"

 _"Khan!"_

"Sorry," He smirked, "I shouldn't be joking."

 _"British humour…"_ Nyota tutted along with some mumbled curses.

"I think I have managed to seal of the flow of auxiliary power to most of the lower levels now, all remaining power should sustain your life support and your energy."

 _"Thank you, will it get any warmer?"_

"Unfortunately, no." He said, looking at the readout that now said minus-seven degrees celsius. "But it will take longer for it to get colder. If you can put up with minus-seven for a while."

 _"Do I have a choice?"_

"Not really."

 _"Then-… Oh God, what is that?"_

"What? What's happening?"

 _"There is this black goop seeping in through the small crack in the top of the door. What is it?"_

"Duplication spawns." Khan said, pushing the mild panic creeping up his stomach back down. "I'm getting you out as soon as I can."

 _"What does that mean? What does duplication spawn mean?"_ Nyota pressured.

"It means you're going to have unsavoury company in a short time. Brace yourself."

Khan got to work on transporter functions. He drew up every method he knew of to try and find the quickest way of getting her off that ship.

 _"Oh God no, it's moved onto a corpse, I think it's eating it."_

"It will be acquiring sustenance in order to grow and develop, like any living thing." Khan told her. "You need to be ready to kill it when it's developed enough."

 _"How will I know when it's developed enough?"_

"Trust me, it'll be obvious. Just stay out of it's way for now, and have your phaser set to kill."

 _"How do you know so much about these things?"_ She asked.

"I studied them." Khan told her, "I had heard the rumour too, a long time ago, and when researching I came across a group of people, non-Starfleet explorers, who had managed to capture and study one of these parasites in secret. They showed me a lot of their findings."

 _"Starfleet better start believing these things are real if I get out of this alive…"_

"Yes, I hope so…"

Khan heard the charge up of a phaser as Nyota prepared herself. He grit his teeth, staring at his comm and entering every alter and multi-code he knew of to try and set a transporter system to respond, but nothing would talk to him. The Enlightenment just did not have enough power to sustain a transporter, not even if the majority of the energy was external.

"Uhura, I cannot transport you off of the ship." He told her.

 _"What?!"_

"The Enlightenment does not have enough power to sustain that kind of energy. I'm going to have to come to you."

 _"How long will that take?"_ She tried to hide the quiver in her voice.

"I cannot say. Once I'm in space, I know your coordinates so as long as you do not drift to far, it should be easy to get to you." Khan explained. "Acquiring the space craft will be the hard part."


	7. Chapter 7

If there was one thing Khan knew, it was that asking for things never got him anywhere. His 'superiors' did not respect him. The truth that shrouded his real identity marked him as untrustworthy, and the security surrounding his very existence made him a watched target. He resented every second of it. Every rejected idea and failure to be taken seriously boiled under his skin. They would never see him for who he was, his value, or understand why he did the things he did.

It was the early hours. Dawn was breaking over the city, bathing the streets in a deep violet, tinting the early wisps of fog overhead as Khan walked down the quiet path under the street lamps. He flicked his coat collar up to protect against the morning chill, the seasons were getting colder now.

Out past the old London museum lay a small shipyard. It was one of the first shipyards to be built in London, yet now it was overshadowed by a newer, larger shipyard near the edge of the city. This yard was still in service, but took on private and specialist projects. Fixing and upgrading personal crafts, a place for tinkerers to come and work on their own inventions, and traders to haggle for old Starfleet crafts.

There were numerous people already around, but no one bat at an eyelid at Khan's presence. Visitors were welcome, especially if they were going to buy something. He walked among the crafts, studying them. He brushed his hand down the side of an older Starfleet craft, gunmetal coloured, her numbers faded and nose panels light damaged, she had a few dents here and there, but her name still visibly held along the side.

' _Opulence'_

"She's a beaut is she." A voice disturbed him. Khan turned to see an old gentleman in oil stained overalls approaching him, piece of ragged cloth in hand as he cleaned a small engine part. He gave him a crooked smile, wrinkles forming by his eyes. It was strangely welcoming.

"She was dumped here seven years ago by some Starfleet young'uns." He told him. "And people just walk by her every day. Seven years an nobody's seen the value in her."

A lopsided grin formed on Khan's face as he looked back up at the craft.

"I know how she feels." He said quietly.

"You obviously recognise quality, you got an eye for somethin' particular?"

"What are her faults?" Khan asked.

"Nothing now. You could only accuse her o' being a bit rusty!" The man laughed, leading him to cough for a moment. "I fixed her myself when she first came in. Just needs a good run now if you ask me."

"Onboard facilities?"

"Four-man cockpit, base level loading bay with room for gofer craft, two bunk rooms with relevant facilities." The man told him. "Not made for long haul explorin', but it's a good over-nighter."

"How much?"

"For you, two-thousand sterling."

"What about rental?"

"Planin' to bring her back, are you?" The man wheezed a laugh. "Then two-thousand-five-hundred sterling to cover possible damages."

Khan sighed. "I'll give you seventeen-hundred and a promise you'll never see her again." Khan approached him. "She'll have a life among the stars."

There was a twinkle in the mans eye as he looked past Khan at Opulence. She was special to him, almost like a granddaughter, he wanted the best for her, for her to experience the galaxy and not be cooped up in this old dusty yard any longer. Khan knew he could persuade him.

"Alright, deal." He held an oily hand out to shake Khan's.

"Excellent. I'll transfer the money now."

"I'll make sure she's fuelled up."

"Also," Khan asked, stopping the man in his tracks. "Any chance you can keep this sale off the books?"

"Ah, wanting to be incognito are you?" The man grinned. "For giving my Opulence new life, gladly."

Khan smiled. "Thank you."

xxxx

The black goo was growing. It looked like something the size of a cushion had gotten stuck in an oil-slick. Black and green, streaks of dirty blue bubbled through it as the parasite feast on one of the deceased pilots.

Nyota could barely watch. She knew the man who was now lunch, but she needed to keep her eye on how big the thing was growing. Khan had cut communication with her what seemed like a life time ago to go and find a ship. As she watched the parasite, its audible slurping noise filling the room, she prayed he found something soon.

Her lower lip began to tremble, and tears formed in her eyes. She couldn't stop herself from crying. Periodically, her eyes would just spill water down her cheeks. Trauma, she guessed. Cold. Hunger. Loneliness. Fear. Oblivion… These things would take their toll on the best of people.

She clutched her phaser, thinking about what it would feel like to be eaten alive by that thing, when Khan's voice from the comm startled her.

 _"Uhura, do you copy?"_ Khan's military tone filled the room.

"Yeah," She sniffed, "I'm here."

 _"Are you alright?"_ He asked more softly, noticing she was audibly upset.

"I-… Just have some good news for me."

 _"I do. I have a craft."_ He told her. She blew out a sigh of relief. _"Im getting it fitted with a gofer now, and I'll be on my way. Hold tight, don't worry."_

Nyota closed her eyes, the last of her tears spilling out.

"Thank you." She whispered.

 _"You are welcome, Uhura."_

"Nyota." She said. "My first name is Nyota."

She wiped her cheeks with her palms and sniffed again.

 _"Nyota… meaning star. Looks like you really do belong among them."_

A tired laugh escaped her, yet she smiled. "Yeah, I guess I do."

 _"I'll talk to you again soon."_

"Okay. Good luck."

The line went dead, and the sound of parasite slurping filled the room again. Nyota turned in her chair, hugging her knees to her chest to see the thing had almost doubled in size since she turned around. She took a deep breath, focusing herself. She would not be eaten by this parasite.

xxxx

Opulence was now re-fitted with a gofer craft. An option Khan had deemed necessary in order to get to Nyota. He already knew he would not be able to transport her out of there, so he would have to get aboard the craft and help her out himself. The gofer would safely get them from Enlightenment to Opulence, and should by chance any parasite get aboard the gofer, he would be able to dump the craft before it spread to his rescue ship.

The sun had almost fully risen as Khan began his take off from the little ship yard. Opulence rose up into the sky, the low yellow sun almost too bright for the polarised view screen. Taking control of the craft, it would not be long before she saw the blackness of space again.


	8. Chapter 8

"Has anyone seen Commander Harrison?" Admiral Marcus marched through the lobby of the Data Archive. His tone loudly informing everyone in the vicinity there was a problem. Evelyn looked up from her desk at the name.

"C'mon people, someone must have seen him today, contacted him?"

He was met with silence and blank faces, so continued to make his way down to the basement levels. Rampaging into his office, he grabbed his communicator when a young officer entered the room.

"What? This better be important." He barked.

"Uh, Sir," The officer began, "We have an unregistered craft spotted leaving the system in the early hours of this morning."

Marcus put the communicator down.

"Old Starfleet class, barely standard warp capabilities. I'd be amazed if it got very far." He told him, "Want us to go after it?"

The Admiral was thinking. "He really believes there's someone still up there, doesn't he?"

"What if… What if he's right, Sir?"

"Of course he's not right!" Marcus shouted. "We will not play to this. He won't find a morsel alive up there, but if he's so desperate to try, he can perish in his unregistered craft for all I care."

"But, Admiral-"

"Enough! I've things to do, get back to your duties!"

The officer left him. Marcus slowly sat down in his chair, leaning back and turning to look out of the windows onto the view. He wouldn't find anything. The Enlightenment had been destroyed, as it was supposed to be. He was sure of it…

xxxx

"No don't you dare! No, no!"

Nyota scolded the forming parasitic blob as it made its way from one devoured corpse toward her Spock.

A high pitched string of clicks erupted from the thing, startled by her sudden movement and noise, it darted away and up the wall, squelching its way remarkably quickly to hide amongst the barricade of debris.

Nyota stood near Spock, phaser in hand, pointed in the direction of the thing.

"Show yourself, you little bastard!"

Her response was another string of clicks. She had decided, it was definitely big enough to kill. The phaser would be able to target living matter instead of just disrupting a large blob of cells. At this size, she had the advantage, because it seemed to be more afraid of her than she was of it.

 _"Nyota, are you there?"_

Nyota edged her way back around to the communications desk, still poised to fire at the pile of debris should the parasite decide to emerge. She quickly hit the button to respond.

"Hey." She sidestepped back onto the bridge.

 _"I'm in space. I've acquired a craft. I need you to send me an update of your coordinates. You probably haven't drifted far, but the more precise we can be the quicker I'll be able to find you."_ Khan explained.

Noises were bubbling from the debris, Nyota's eyes scanning the pieces.

"Okay I'll-" An inquisitive noise came from the left, "I'm on it."

 _"You're distracted, how's your little friend?"_

"Growing, and being a little shit." She told him. "It's hiding in the debris, I scared it." She edged back to the comm again. "Hang on I'll send it quickly."

Scanning the room thoroughly one last time, she stuffed her phaser into the belt of her space suit and turned to the computer, finding the coordination codes and sending them to Khan as quickly as she could, not wanting to have her back turned for long.

 _"Received. You've not drifted far, I'd estimate-"_

Nyota shrieked to feel a weight suddenly land on her left leg.

 _"Nyota?!"_

The parasite had taken advantage, and was now wrapping itself around her calf, trying to get through the material of her space suit to her flesh. Reacting, Nyota tried to shake it off, but it wasn't working. She tripped in her struggle, laying on the floor, using her other foot to try and scrape it off herself with her boot, yet it clung on, and she could feel the fabric of her suit getting thinner.

Grabbing her phaser, she shot at it with no hesitation. The parasite squealed, loosening its grip but it took several blows before it finally detached from her leg, plopping to the floor and beginning to shrivel lifelessly.

Nyota tried to catch her breath, heart racing at the ordeal, becoming aware of the pain now on her leg. Her suit was covered with parasite goop, the fabric of both the outer suit and her trouser leg was shredded as a combination of the creature and the phaser. Part of her leg was beginning to blister from the burns of the residue heat from the shots she fired. It hurt.

"Ah, shit!"

 _"Nyota, what happened?"_

"It got me." She groaned, gently trying to move her leg and get up off the floor. She managed to make it into her chair. "It grabbed my leg and ate away the fabric of my clothes. I had to shoot it but now I've got phaser burn, and I'm covered in goop."

 _"Do you have first aid? Whatever you do, do not let any of the goo get into your damaged skin."_

Nyota grimaced, analysing her flesh wound. Carefully she tore her suit and trouser leg to try and remove any goop from around the area.

"I don't have first aid, but I've ripped the covered fabric off to keep it out of the wound. I don't think I got any in there." She said. "What happens to me if I did?"

 _"I'm not sure exactly. No one has ever been just attacked by one - they are usually eaten whole with none of them left to experience any effects of the parasite. I cannot say what an infected person would experience."_

"Great…" Nyota studied her leg.

 _"This ship does not have strong warp capabilities, but I will be with you as soon as I can."_

"Well, I'll be here." Nyota decided sitting was painful, lowering herself off the chair and to the floor, she stretched her leg out to allow better blood circulation. "Big floating hunk of metal with the word 'Enlightenment' on the front. Can't miss it."

She heard Khan snuff a laugh.

 _"I'll do my best to keep an eye out for you."_

xxxx

Opulence whirred away peacefully with the occasional cough. She reminded Khan somewhat of the old man he had bought her off of at the shipyard. Space drifted by him. He had missed it. The darkness, the cold, the unexplored and the awesomeness of it all. Larger than any man, than any being, it could chew you up and spit you out and there would be no way in which you could save yourself. Yet treat it with the respect it deserves and awe at the majesty of it all, and you'll never be so glad for feeling so small in all your life.

The coordinates display counted down with every star he passed. He had been travelling for nearly two hours now, and finally the screen showed less than sixty-seconds. He glanced at it, taking a firm grip of the pilots controls, unsure of how well the old girl would drop out of warp, he braced for a wobbly stop.

 _5… 4… 3… 2… 1…_

The blackness fell into swimming focus around him. Opulence juddered, not so much a dead halt but more of a bunny hop to the finish line, either way, he had reached his destination in one piece. He stood up, getting a broader look out of the view screen and there she was.

Drifting, and looking more than sorry for herself, the Enlightenment hung there in space. It looked odd somehow, apart from being a little battered. Khan moved to get a better look, noticing some kind of extra craft attached to the underside of the ship.

"So that's how you got in." Khan observed. Now the question was, how was he going to get passed it?


	9. Chapter 9

_"I can see you."_

Khan's voice filled the bridge, the lights flickered and dimmed. Nyota was huddled on the floor, all of her shivering besides her lower left leg that felt like it was on fire.

"Finally." She replied.

It had been a few hours since her ordeal with the parasite, since she got burned by the phaser residue. Enlightenment's auxiliary power was struggling, and so was she.

 _"You have a small craft piggy-backing on the underside of your ship. If I'm right, I think it might be how the parasites got aboard."_

"I knew I bumped into something." She told him from the floor. "Ages ago, before I was even in contact with you, the ship hit something. I was sure it was just space debris, I had no idea it latched on to me."

 _"I'm going to try and board your ship, my question is whether or not this other craft is covering Enlightenment's docking bay doors or not."_ He explained, _"I'm switching my communication to the gofer and flying out."_

xxxx

Khan carefully piloting under the Enlightenment. The debris craft was a lot bigger than it looked at first glance. He engaged the gofer's overhead view screen and flew directly under the crafts, looking up for the docking bay door.

"Nyota, I can see the doors, they haven't been blocked." He told her. "I need you to divert whatever power you can to opening the doors, can you do that?"

 _"Hold on a second."_ She replied. He was patient as she found her feet, obviously still in some pain. _"Khan, I don't know if I have enough power."_

"Switch off all terminals you can. Switch our communication to your handheld radio, turn off every comm on the bridge you do not need."

Nyota was quiet a moment, he heard the hum of energy dim. _"I still don't have enough power…"_ She said, a pause followed her. _"If I kill the rest of the power on the ship, divert it all to opening those doors, can you find me in the darkness?"_

"Yes."

His reply was instant, unconfirmed with his brain, he was willed to save this woman no matter what. He'd come this far, he would not give up now, even if it meant fighting off parasites along the way.

 _"Do you have a weapon and a light source?"_

"Yes. I am equipped."

Silence hung between them for a moment. They both knew the unspoken risks of this. If Nyota switched off all her power to divert it to the doors and it did not work, the auxiliary would not have enough in it to power back up again. If she did this and it failed, Khan would not be able to get to her in time, she would suffocate or freeze before he could get her out.

Khan took a breath, preparing himself.

"Ready when you are."

 _"Khan, if this doesn't work…"_

"It will work, Nyota." He assured her. He would not lose her now after all their efforts. "Once you've killed the power, stay on your radio and start to unblock the bridge doors as best you can. I'll work my way up the ship to you. Okay?"

 _"Okay."_ She exhaled. _"Doors opening in five, four, three, two, one…"_

The communication cut. Khan waited in the silence, eyes glued to the doors above him. After a tense minute, they opened.

Wasting no time, he piloted into the bay, using the ships main lights to see into the docking bay as the heavy doors sealed behind him. He was not prepared for what was illuminated before him.

Carnage. Absolute carnage. Goop and fleshed out corpses covered the floor. Once high achieving officers now barely recognisable mush. Parasites, some the size of ponies, lurked everywhere, feasting on the leftovers and sludge. It was not often that Khan found himself disgusted, but he had to cover his mouth and divert his gaze for a moment.

 _"Khan, do you copy? Have you made it?"_ Nyota's voice crackled on his communicator.

"I'm in. It's carnage down here."

 _"I'm unblocking the door now as best I can, I can barely see."_ She said. _"The computer estimates we have approximately five minutes of breathable oxygen left before it starts being mostly carbon dioxide and argon. The lower levels of the ship have been cut off a lot longer, so I can't imagine there's much left circulating. It'll be pretty thin out there."_

"Okay. I'm gearing up and making my way to you now. I'll check in on the radio at intervals. There are a lot of parasites down here, the darkness and silence may be my only advantage."

 _"Good luck."_

Khan rose from the pilots seat.

 _"Oh, and Khan?"_

"Yes, Nyota?"

 _"Thank you. Thank you so much."_

"I'll see you soon."

Khan cloaked himself in his hooded coat, drew a scarf around his neck and covered his face, and equipped himself with a few weapons of varying strength.

He released the gofer craft's door catch, letting the hiss of the hydraulics fade into the quiet of the bay and settle on the parasites ears. He heard a choir of their inquisitive clicks and waited for them to subside. Gently, one foot in front of the other, he stepped out of the craft and moved forward. In theory, his plan was simple; time was not on their side, neither were the numbers of allies to enemies, so he would address the parasites in rounds. Bracing himself, he flicked on his light source to full power, startling the parasites and moved quickly, killing as many creatures as he could along the way. When the room fell silent he extinguished the light and made his way as swiftly as he could to the next room.

Nyota was right, oxygen down here was thin. Khan took few, deep breaths, sustaining himself as best he could between burst of fighting and moving up the ship. Reaching his second stairwell, he communicated with Nyota.

 _"How are you doing?"_

"Two floors down," He breathed, "Eight more to go, correct?"

 _"Correct. You got this."_ She spurred him on. _"I've cleared as much as I can, but I'll admit, I'm a little weak right now. There are some parasites outside my door too."_

"It's okay. Just do what you can to stay safe."

 _"See you soon."_

Knowing she was still okay, he pushed himself forward. Only eight more floors to go.

xxxx

Nyota slowly exhaled. She estimated they had about two-and-a-half minutes of clean oxygen remaining.

It was dark and quiet, without the noise of the comms and the auxiliary power running in the background, Nyota could hear the noises of the parasites that loomed outside of the bridge. She stretched her burnt leg out, wincing at the tightness and heat of her own skin. She knew it was swollen, even in the dark. She rubbed her eyes, worried. She could not remember the last time she slept or ate properly, she did not even know what day it was. She was tired and weak, she focused on finding the strength to make it down ten floors to the docking bay.

Nyota's attention was caught as the content stir of parasite noise suddenly dimmed. She shuffled forward on her hands and knees, sitting a little closer to the bridge doors, listening. A few inquisitive clicks pierced the silence, another tense moment of quiet followed, before the corridor outside lit up like fireworks and hammered with weapon fire. She instinctively jumped back, but only being able to see light through the cracks in the doors made it intriguing. Khan was out there, all he had to do was kill those final things…


	10. Chapter 10

Silence had fallen in the corridor. A parasitic purr echoed, followed by one final weapon blast. Nyota carefully got herself to her feet and activated her light source, eyes glued to the doorway, she heard footsteps.

There he was. The stranger who knew nothing about her, her life, or the mission she was on who had risked his own life in order to save hers. No questions, no letting difficulties get in his way, just honest perseverance and determination, and the voice from the end of the communicator was now separated from her by merely a broken door.

They took in one and other a moment, both illuminated only by the glow of their personal light sources. Khan removed his hood, and pulled his scarf down from his face.

"Hello Nyota."

"Hello Khan."

She smiled, smile breaking into a laugh of relief, of how ridiculous this was, how overwhelming, how tired and hungry and in pain she was. Khan smiled, without words, he seemed to understand. He made his way into the room, over the last bits of debris she had used to block the door but did not have the strength to move. Once inside the bridge, he began clearing the rest of the way.

As he did, Nyota observed the bodies on the floor. She was alive, getting rescued. She had survived this terrible ordeal. Yet there were her friends, Spock, the people she loved, all dead. If only they hadn't been in here, been crushed, maybe if circumstances had been even slightly different they would be alive and she would not be the lone survivor. She looked to Kirk, remembering how she had held his hand as his life slipped away from him, and at Spock, eyes filling with tears, all their memories, everything they shared and all their plans for the future taken from them in a heartbeat. Her old life, everything she knew and loved had been destroyed here, and would be left here on the wreckage of the Enlightenment.

"Are you alright?" Khan's tone was full of empathy and patience.

"I can't leave their bodies here." She said, voice trembling.

Looking around, she knew she there would be no way they could get them off the ship and back to Earth for the burial they deserved, for starters, they wouldn't be able to untangle them from the debris, let alone transport their bodies safely. Nyota's eyes fell upon the battered view screen.

"Does your ship have weapons?"

"A few gun turrets, why?" Khan asked.

"When we get back to your craft, I want to blow out Enlightenment's view screen." She told him, tears rolling down her cheeks. "If I can't get my friends back to Earth for a proper burial, they should be released to the stars, not entombed on this wreck for the rest of eternity."

Khan's eyes moved from Nyota to the view screen. He placed a hand on her shoulder in comfort.

"That is an admirable idea." He agreed. He respected her love for her friends, for he knew that under the circumstances, he would do the same for his. He let a quiet moments pass.

"I do not mean to rush you, but we need to get off this vessel now."

Nyota nodded. "Yes, we do."

xxxx

Leaning on Khan, Nyota let her guide him off the bridge. Her swollen lower leg hurt to put pressure on.

"I think I have managed to kill most of the parasites, I cannot be sure though." He said, "Keep your eyes and ears peeled, and keep your breaths deep and infrequent. The oxygen is very thin down there."

"Alright."

They made it down two floors together, past the goop and the flesh. Nyota covered her mouth and nose as best she could, desperately trying to ignore the carnage. With eight floors left to go, the air was already thinning, and Nyota was struggling more than she wanted to admit. They pushed on.

Nyota gasped for a breath, holding it, forcing herself to move.

"Nyota?"

"I'm fine," She dismissed his concern, "Lets keep moving."

Khan eyed her, moving his arm more securely around her before continuing on.

Two more floors, and she couldn't carry on, no matter how she tried. Her leg felt wet and she knew her blistering had burst and was now bleeding down to her foot. She took another deep breath, stopping for a moment.

"It's okay, I'm okay." She assured Khan before he could comment.

"No you're not. I'm not losing you now when we've come this far."

In one quick movement, Khan scooped her up off her feet.

"Khan!"

"No objections, we will be quicker this way."

Nyota sighed, but as they continued on, she began to feel a little better.

"Thank you…" She said quietly, mildly impressed at the ease in which he carried her.

Their faces close, she met his gaze, his bright blue eyes finding her deep brown ones.

"You are welcome."

They moved on at a better pace, descending the dark levels of the ship silently, listening out for sounds of parasites that were still alive, Khan carefully avoiding treading on fleshy remains, human or otherwise.

As they reached the lowest deck of the ship, an all too familiar click echoed into the stairwell. Khan stopped, they both instinctively flicked off their light sources, holding their breath as they peered down the dark corridor. Khan tilt his head slightly as he cautiously stepped forward, it was impossible to pinpoint the exact direction the sound had come from. As they walked forward, the sound stopped, almost suspiciously. Khan continued forward, slower than before but standing completely still was not a good choice. A minute dragged out as they crept forward, when suddenly, a frantic noise came from behind them.

With the advantage of being able to see over Khan's shoulder, Nyota leaned down, grabbed the weapon out of the holster on Khan's hip and shot at the direction of the noise. Phaser fire hit the parasite, a few shots taking it down.

"Good shot."

"Thanks." She clicked the weapon back into his holster.

xxxx

They made it to the gofer craft. Khan placed Nyota gently on her feet, and sealed the door. Nyota hopped into the cockpit, taking the co-pilots chair with a sense of relief she had never felt so strongly in her entire life.

Khan awoke the craft, its engines humming into life.

"How are we gonna get out of here?" Nyota asked, "The docking bay doors are shut."

"I shall access Enlightenments computer from here through the external programme I devised." He told her, entering numbers and codes into the comm before him, bringing up the Enlightenment's power grid and selecting the docking bay doors.

Red lights flashed in multiple places, and the comm made noises of disagreement. Khan cursed, the power left on the ship was nearly non-existent.

"There's barely enough power on that wreck for oxygen." Nyota said. Khan pressed his lips together, entering more codes, diverting every morsel of power he could find.

"I've got enough power to open one half of the docking bay doors. The bottom panel takes less hydraulics to sustain, I'll pump everything she's got left into that door, and we will just have to improvise our exit a little." He explained, manoeuvring the gofer craft around to face the double doors.

"Seat belts on."

Khan inched the craft forward, readying its fuel cells for a dash escape. He pushed a lever on the comm and energy surged into the docking bay. Some spilled out of broken cables and wires, but enough still managed to push through to the lower panel.

With a spark, the door flew open. Khan piloted all the gofers power, rotating the craft on to its side giving them a better chance of fitting through the gap. With the scrape of metal on metal, the gofer squeezed out of the Enlightenment's doors, and head straight for Opulence.


	11. Chapter 11

The Opulence was still, facing the wreck of the Enlightenment square on. Nyota gazed at the devastation of the ship from the safety of the warm bridge.

Khan was aligning parameter target lines on the view screen, focusing in on the view screen of the opposite vessel to get as clear a shot at it as possible. Happy with his alignment, he waited a moment, watching Nyota. Looking out onto her other ship, she looked somewhat serene despite still being in tattered clothes, and her left leg held slightly lifted to ease the pain of her wound.

"Are you ready?" He asked her.

"Yes." She nodded, eyes not leaving the view. "Please set them free."

Khan hit the switch, and a single line of phaser fire darted across space, hitting Enlightenment's view screen and shattering it. Debris and bodies were sucked out into the blackness of space.

Nyota's fingers gripped the console before her as she watched. Tears ran down her face, the loss of it all hitting her, saying goodbye to the people she had loved for so long. Khan sat quietly, letting there be silence around them for a good few minutes, to give her the time to just stare, and think, and cry, to be exhausted by it all, and accept it all for the tragedy it had been. He pressed his lips together, knowing that there was more to this mess than either of them realised, that this devastation was somehow planned. He thought about telling her, yet he wasn't sure what good it would do now, and he had so little evidence or information, to stir bitterness into her sadness would just be a cruelty at this moment.

Quietly, Khan got to his feet and approached her.

"Come on," He said, carefully extending a hand out to her back, "Lets get you rested, and I shall see to your leg wound."

xxxx

Nyota had changed out of her tattered suit and uniform, showered, and was sat on the bed in a fresh t-shirt and shorts in the second bedroom quarters.

The door pipped, and Khan entered the room carrying some medical equipment. Nyota rubbed her neck, tiredly gazing at all the things he held.

"Now, sit back." He said, and she moved herself comfortably, stretching her legs out before her. Khan sat on the end of the bed and examined her burn wound.

"Fortunately it does not look as though you got any parasitic secretions in there." He said, "But it is starting to look infected. I will clean it and give you some antibiotics, and you should heal fairly quickly."

"You seem to know a lot." Nyota commented.

"I worked in medicine for a while." He told her, getting to work, "The London Children's Hospital."

She smiled, "Wow," her voice was heavy with exhaustion, "I wouldn't have pegged you as the type."

"Well, I like to be full of surprises."

He worked quickly but delicately. Wiping up the wound gently, using soft strokes and dabs of cleaning fluid, reducing the sting. Working in the children's hospital he had developed every technique to ensure things healing could be as pain free as possible. He bandaged her leg with an added cool pack.

"I'm going to give you a little something to help you sleep, if that is alright?" He asked. "You will heal better."

Nyota was too worn out to disagree, in fact, she welcomed the drugs, for she feared she may not sleep as soundly as she would like to after all she had been through and seen. Khan gently pressed an injector to the side of her neck, hearing the click and immediately starting to feel the effects of the drugs.

Khan watched her a moment. He sighed. Why would the Admiral want to be rid of Nyota and all the people aboard the Enlightenment? They were just ordinary Starfleet personnel, in what way were they threatening? He walked to the end of the bed to pull the covers up over her, noticing the bandaging on her leg already starting to bleed through. He did not want to see her suffer any more, so decided he would heal her himself.

Khan returned briefly to Opulence's supply room, grabbing a syringe, blood bag and transfusion line. Returning to Nyota's room, he extracted a dosage of his own blood into a vile, emptying the content into the blood bag and carefully hooking it up to Nyota's veins. He watched, it took a few minutes for her body to absorb it all, but once the last drops cleared, he extracted the line and collected up the medical equipment. Hopefully she would be much better when she awoke.

xxxx

 _'Khan… Khan..?'_

The communicator next to his bed spilled his name.

 _'Pick up, Goddamn you, I know you can hear me you bastard.'_

Khan rolled over, arm reaching out from the covers to grab the device, flicking it open.

"Found my channel have you, Admiral?" He addressed Marcus.

 _'Your secret channels are not the highest on my list of concerns right now, Khan.'_ He said his name with venom. _'Why the hell are you in space?'_

A smile cracked over Khan's face, he stretched, taking his time.

"Oh I think you already know the answer to that." He tormented him, "In fact, I think you know a lot more answers than I do about all of this."

He could hear the Admiral muttering some curse words and something about how he should have restricted his grounds clearance.

"So, would you like to acknowledge that I was correct about the survivor on the Enlightenment now or later?"

 _'Listen here boy, you are not bringing that survivor back to Earth. You are not to make any mention that there is a survivor from that ship. You try and get anywhere near Earth and I will have you blown to smithereens, understand?'_ The Admiral spat. _'I know the location you set course for, and I am coming out to get you, and you and the survivor will be dealt with accordingly.'_

"Tell me Admiral; what did these people do?" Khan asked, "Why would you put a ship full of officers on an expedition guaranteed to result in death?"

 _'Enough.'_ He replied, _'I'll be getting to you shortly.'_

The line cut dead, and Khan did not waste any time. There was no chance he was going to hang around the location of the Enlightenment and be caught. Who knows what Marcus might do, or what he might do to Nyota. Getting to the bridge he woke up the ship and warped her, setting a course for Titan. It would be enough of a diversion for a while.

"Are we going home?" A soft voice asked from behind him. Khan turned in his chair to greet Nyota.

"Not exactly." He told her.

"What do you mean? Why not?"

"Please, sit down." He gestured to the chair next to him.

Nyota eyed him, he could see she was dubious, but she took the seat. Khan punched some numbers into the comm, opening up a saved audio file and played her the message he had received from the Admiral.

"Who was that? Was that-?"

"Admiral Marcus."

The audio continued, Nyota heard Khan's question to him.

"I knew there was something off about this expedition…" Nyota said quietly stunned.

"Part of the reason why I was so keen to find you was to get some answers, but he is not admitting to anything."

"How do you know the Admiral?" She asked.

"I work for him in a sector in London." He said, "We do not get on. The man is.. corrupt."

Nyota shook her head slowly. "Why would he do this? Why would he want rid of us?"

"I do not know, but I am going to find out."


	12. Chapter 12

Khan was unconscious, the Opulence's systems were blaring and the Admiral was looming over them in a thousand-tonne war ship. Scrambling to the controls, Nyota had to get them out of there. Khan saved her, she would save him…

xxxx

Nyota had gone back to her quarters to change and rest a little more. With this ships power, it would be a little while before they got to Titan. She thought on the Admiral's message and her own questions about it all. Why? Why would he do this to them? Herself and the other officers sent out on that mission had been nothing but assets to Starfleet, some of the best people they had in their areas of expertise. It made absolutely no sense to her. It was maddening and horrifying. She mourned the loss of her friends, and felt disturbed by how narrowly she avoided the same fate.

The door alert chimed, she called out for Khan to enter.

"I came to ask if you would like me to re-dress your leg wound?" He asked. "And if you needed any more medication of any kind."

"Sure," She replied, sitting down on the bed. "It feels a lot better, surprisingly better. You are a very good medic."

Khan smiled, kneeling down on the floor by her feet. She had no shoes or socks on, so simply began rolling up the leg of her sweatpants. Their fingers brushed as he carefully helped her, moving the fabric up over the bandaging.

Nyota watched him working silently. She had been too exhausted yesterday to really notice anything about him. He was undeniably handsome, not classically, but in a sculpted and defined way. His military hair was sleek and black, like her own, surprising for someone with such a translucent skin tone as his. As his hands touched her leg, she could feel how soft his skin was. Remarkably, he was delicate in his movements, gentle, not something that would be assumed immediately from looking at him, he was tall and muscular, built for fighting and commanding, not tending wounds or working in children's hospitals. He was a mystery.

An involuntary shiver ran through her at his touch. She held her breath a moment, trying to pretend she had not noticed it, to pretend he had not noticed it either.

Removing the bandage and cover strips he had applied, Nyota's burn wound was down to a small, purplish-red scar. It would be completely healed in a day. Khan smiled to himself, his transfusion had helped her.

"Oh my God." Nyota stretched her leg out, looking at the impeccably small wound. Yesterday she felt as if she might have to amputate her own leg, now it looked like merely a scratch. "You really _are_ a good medic! What did you give me?"

"A transfusion of my blood." Khan said, sitting back on his heels, looking up at her.

She met his piercing blue gaze. "Your blood? I meant medicine."

"My blood has medicinal qualities. I am not all like you." He explained quietly.

"How do you mean? Are you part alien or something?" She asked. Different species were not uncommon, but if he was part alien she could not guess what kind of alien.

He exhaled slowly, his eyes looking about her features, sizing up whether he could trust her, whether she would believe him if he told her the truth. Her expression was soft, inquisitive, not judgemental.

"I am a genetically engineered human being." He began, "I was conceived in a test tube, the product of the genetics of some of the greatest minds the world has ever seen, combined with alterations to my biological and chemical systems; I am virtually indestructible, and my blood contains enough forms to heal any kind of wound or disease. Even cancer."

"Wow." Nyota was amazed. "I bet you saved many lives in that children's hospital then?

"One or two." He said modestly. Khan watched her a moment, processing what he had told her.

"So you're a test tube baby? Do you have any real parents? I didn't know they still did those experiments in our life time, because of all the dangers involved?"

"I have parents, but I did not know my biological parents." He told her. "They stopped doing test tube conceptions over two-hundred years ago."

Nyota eyed him, not sure if she believed what he was implying. Not sure how it could be possible…

"You're…" She paused, looking about his body before meeting his eyes again, "Are you telling me you're two-hundred years old?"

Khan took a breath, "Yes."

Silence sat between them for a moment as she stared at him.

"How is that even possible?" Her voice was almost a whisper.

"Cryostasis. My body was preserved, frozen in time-"

A sudden hit lurched the ship. Nyota fell off the edge of the bed and straight into Khan, who lost his balance backwards. His protective hands steadied her a moment, before both scrambled to their feet, making their way for the bridge as another hit rocked the Opulence.

They assumed positions of control at the helm, Nyota reading signals and area readouts while Khan piloted the ship to steady levels having been knocked out of warp.

"I'm picking up another ship in the vicinity." She told him.

"The Admiral." Khan knew.

With the Opulence now still, a gigantic black warship orbited around to the front of them. Nyota gasped at the enormity of the vessel before her, she had not seen a ship so large before. Khan studied it, a pang of recognition at his design. The Vengeance.

A channel opened up on their screen that Nyota had no control over. Marcus appeared on screen.

"Well Starfleet ships are robust, I guess there was a chance someone would survive." Marcus commented on Nyota's life from the captain's chair of the deep hull.

"What have you done?" Nyota was livid, "Why have you done this? Sent some of your best officers out to certain death?!"

"I didn't send you out to certain death, I sent you on a mission, a mission that went badly wrong, and that is…regrettable."

There was not an ounce of humility in his tone or expression. Nyota scowled.

"But you should have let it continue to go wrong, Khan," He moved his gaze. "Then we wouldn't be in this mess now, would we?"

"No, I would just be working in a Starfleet lead by growing corruption."

The Admiral smirked, leaning back in his chair.

"Tell me, Khan, why did you become so obsessed in saving this woman? You do not know her, you don't owe her anything, she has done nothing to aide you; you were strangers, and that's how it should have remained…"

"I am not like you, I cannot let an innocent woman die for no reason."

"But you could blow up an entire Starfleet archive, couldn't you?"

Khan inched back in his seat, eyes widening slightly.

"I found your plans, Khan." He said, plainly. "I know about the torpedoes, I know about your crew, and I know that you were planning an attack against Starfleet, against me."

Nyota looked to Khan. His expression was set, jaw locked shut and hands balled on his arm rests.

"You would have deserved it for how you've kept me." Khan growled. "Used me, locked away my people. If you have so much as moved them-"

"Oh they are long gone Khan. Long gone." Marcus dismissed his actions, "See this is what happens when you go against me. I told you the Enlightenment was none of your concern. If you had left well enough alone, and continued your work for me, we may have been able to come to some amicable agreement."

Khan twitched with rage. "There is nothing amicable about you, or the things you do. You will pay for this. You will pay for my crew, and Lieutenant Uhura's."

"No I won't." He replied, looking off screen at on of his crew members. "Lieutenants, take out their engines."

The communication terminated. Realising what had been said both Khan and Nyota jumped to action.

"Take the helm," He ordered her, "Set a course for Kronos."

"Kronos?" That was the Klingon home world. How would that possibly be a safer option than this?

"Just do it!"

Khan was already out of the bridge running for the engine control room when the ship was struck. Taking the hit, Nyota finished the coordinates and punched the warp lever to full capacity. Battered, the Opulence struggled forward, generating all the power she had to move them. In the safety of warp, Nyota followed after him.

Alerts rang out, red light flashed and engine parts steamed with damage. Khan was standing precariously on top of pipes and supports, reaching to the highest engine panels to try and configure their power consumption. He glanced down at Nyota as she approached him.

"Nyota get out of here!" He yelled.

"I can help you!"

He barked a reply but she did not hear it. An unfamiliar noise was getting louder, encompassing them, it sounded as if it was coming from outside the ship.

Suddenly they were struck again. Debris rained down from above. Nyota ducked for cover, yelling out for Khan. As she looked back he was knocked down from his post. Running to him, he was laying on the floor amongst the debris. She checked for a pulse and fortunately he was still alive, just unconscious.

There was nothing she could do for him right now, scrambling to her feet, she ran for the door and the bridge. The readouts told her there was a ship looming after them at warp, and she knew it could only be Marcus.

Taking yet another hit, the Opulence fell out of warp. Nyota was no pilot but with no choice but to take the helm, she grabbed the controls as the ship veered. Remembering her basic training, she prayed it would be enough to save them from this monster. Out of the view screen, she could see the cracked planet of Kronos. Pushing the ship for all she had left, she knew why Khan had chosen the location. The Admiral would not follow them any further, a Starfleet warship of that size would not be able to enter Klingon territory without immediately starting a war. The readout dimmed, the signal of the other ship fading as they neared the planet.

"Yes!" Nyota pitched forward in her seat, they had escaped him.

She worried about Khan as they entered the planets dark atmosphere. Piloting down, she headed for a patch of rubble and destroyed buildings that did not detect any life signs. It would do for cover for now.

Her landing was bumpy, but none the less she was impressed she had managed to keep a hold of the ship at all. Piloting was not her strongest skill by any means.

She exhaled, the comm was blaring damage reports at her, but she ignored them, getting up and heading straight for the engine room to find Khan.


	13. Chapter 13

On the tattered floor of the engine room, Khan was slowly coming around.

Nyota dashed across to him.

"Khan! You okay?"

He rubbed his head as he heavily sat up.

"Come on," She said, offering to get an arm around him. "It's not safe in here, we have to get out out of this room."

Carefully she helped him find his feet. He did not look particularly damaged, but the way he held his head suggested he may be at the very least concussed.

He was heavy, and while he was able to support himself, it took a few minutes to slowly trudge to his quarters. She helped him to his bed where he rest his head back.

"Are we safe?" He asked.

"Yes. We made it to Kronos and out run the Admiral. I can see why you chose here now."

He exhaled, shielding his eyes from the light.

"I'll get some medical equipment."

Returning moments later, Nyota had acquired a tricorder and some pain killer. She scanned him.

"Who's the doctor now?" Khan rumbled, smiling slightly.

"I'm definitely no doctor."

"You're no pilot either, but look where you got us."

Nyota smiled humbly. "Nothing is broken," She read the scanner. "But I think you do have a concussion. Does pain medication work on you super humans?"

"Yes. It helps."

Nyota carefully moved the injector to his neck, clicking the device down to give him a measured dosage.

"I think we are safe here for a while, so you can rest up."

Khan's eyes were closed now. How strange, she thought, that in the space of two days they had saved each others lives. She left him, dimming the lights in his room to help his head, and returned to the bridge to assess the damage.

All alerts came from engineering. Their auxiliary power had been knocked out completely, five out of eight fuel cells had been demolished and were slowly emptying, and the warp core was damaged beyond function. Nyota was amazed that the ship had even had enough in it to get them to the surface of the planet. The Opulence was a fighter, just like herself and Khan.

She worked on the bridge for a while, running through all the reports and restorations she knew for the ship, monitoring their location and putting a proximity alert in place that would detect if they were approached by any life forms. There was not much more she could do. Unless they were able to repair the ships fuel cells and warp core, it looked like this would be the Opulence's final resting place. Herself and Khan were going to have to find another way to get home, and that was a daunting thought in this territory.

It was late and dark on Kronos now. She left the lights off on the ship to hide them as much as possible and went to get something to eat and check on Khan.

The panel door to his quarters slid aside. Khan was sat up in bed, it was the first time she had seen him looking tired.

"I brought you some food." She said, approaching the edge of the bed, sitting down and handing him a bowl.

"Thanks."

As they ate, accompanied by the dull hum of the ships left over power. Nyota filled him in on the damage reports.

"We will have to find a ship somewhere on Kronos. Steal one if we have to."

"Well that'll go down well with the Klingons."

"Would you prefer to try bargaining with them? You are a communications officer."

Nyota thought for a moment, briefly entertaining the idea before brushing it aside for the completely ridiculous notion it was.

"Okay, I take your point." She said, setting her now empty bowl aside. "Y'know, you still have a lot to explain to me."

Khan looked up from finishing his food. "Yes." He said, "I suppose I do."

"So where do you want to start? The fact that you're two-hundred years old, or the fact that you were planning an attack on Starfleet?"

The things left unexplained about him were an issue. She trust the man who saved her, who kept talking to her, and who was there for her when she thought she was going to die, but she had no idea who he was, or really what he was capable of.

Khan decided he would start from the beginning. "I am Khan Noonien-Singh, a remnant of a time long past. I was genetically engineered two-hundred years ago to be superior. Myself, along with nearly one-hundred other augments were created as an experiment. A war broke out between our people and the people who experimented on us. Many lives were lost, including the lives of my kin, but me and seventy-two others escaped on a ship, before being captured by the military and sentenced to cryostasis for war crimes."

"The Eugenics War?" Nyota thought aloud.

"Yes. You have read about it in Earth history?"

"It's something we learnt in school many years ago." She told him. "I guess it stuck with me because of just the thought of this race of people who were genetically phenomenal. It was assumed your people had been lost at space?"

"We had been, until your Admiral Marcus found our ship adrift and decided to wake me up. To use my superiority for his own gain, using the remaining members of my family as blackmail to force my control."

Khan looked away, his thoughts obviously drifting. Nyota could not imagine the extent of what he had been through, what he had seen and suffered, but by the tears in his eyes at the mention of his family, it was evident that his kin meant more to him than anything in the world.

"Now Marcus has destroyed them. After all this time, all my efforts of trying to protect them…" He said. "I am the last of my kind. I am alone."

Nyota's hand touched his arm softly. How had the Admiral used this man so cruelly? Khan was kind, resilient and stood up for what was right. How could any man who would risk his life to save that of someone he barely knew be punished for war crimes, controlled and blackmailed?

"You're not alone." She whispered, eyes drifting down him to where her fingers met his arm.

The ship hummed, then coughed, hummed again for a moment before suddenly the lights fizzed and flickered, and the last nodes of power left in the engines died. They were left in the darkness, not worried by having no life support, as Kronos could support them for oxygen. Some dim light from the outside filtered in through the rooms window. Neither Khan or Nyota had moved a muscle.

Nyota's breath caught as her eyes adjusted to the light to find Khan's crystal blue gaze upon hers. He leaned forward slightly, turning his arm so his palm faced upward, slowly wrapping his fingers around her slender wrist. She felt the warmth of his fingers on her skin, he tilt his head slightly, studying the contrast of his skin against hers. She found herself drifting toward him.

"I am not alone…" he whispered, tone deep and magnetic.

Khan moved his other hand to her leg, fingers hovering over her knee, gently trailing his fingertips upward along her thigh. His eyes roamed back up her body to meet hers, shining even in the darkness. Their faces lingered inches from each others. Nyota released a shaky sigh at his touch, his gaze, and they moved closer still, their noses brushed and her lips grazed his, he kissed her.

Nyota's hands found their way to his face, her fingers cradling his jaw, running down his neck to his broad shoulders as his soft lips moved with hers. He had a hand around her waist, the other on her hip, he broke their kiss a moment. They both wanted this, her face reflected everything he felt; desire, need, and an emptiness that could only be filled by the comfort of another. She drew his lips back to meet hers, kissing him more urgently this time.

Khan pulled her onto his lap and deepened their kiss. He worked his way down her jaw to her neck, biting her skin, a sighed moan escaped her and she rolled her hips. Releasing her only momentarily, he yanked off his top, Nyota taking the opportunity to discard her own, before he returned to her neck, kissing down her collarbone down to her breasts exposed in her bra. She ran her hands over the muscles of his back, up over his shoulders and into his hair, tangling her fingers in it.

In a swift movement, Khan held her close and flipped her onto her back. She smiled into their kiss, as his hands moved down her body to undo her trousers. The separation to remove final pieces of clothing left her skin shivering. She needed him now, close, heavy, hard, to love her with passion, remind her how alive she was, that she had survived, that she could feel everything all at once again. Khan held her body as she removed her bra, throwing it aside. He planted kisses all over her breasts and down her stomach as she lay back, he hooked his fingers into her underwear, pulling them off over her smooth legs before kissing her thighs, making his way right up to her. Nyota's head tipped back and she moaned at the pressure of his tongue on her sweetest spot. He was good, very good, and relentless, it was not long before her legs were trembling as she caught her breath and moaned his name, hands grabbing fistfuls of the sheets. He kissed his way back up her body and she needly wrapped her hands around his shoulders, inviting him closer as she drew her knees up, crossing her ankles over his body. Their lips met as he pushed into her, both indulged in the pleasure of it all. They moved together, effortlessly drawing moans and sighs from each other. Switching positions Nyota circled herself on top of him, pushing her hips to meet his, building and climbing with him, their bodies shaking and tensing as she climaxed again, and Khan closely followed.

Nyota collapsed into his arms, burying her face in his neck as he leaned back onto the pillows, holding her, breathing as they came down from their highs. As she regained some of herself, she found Khan's gaze. He kissed her again, resting his forehead against hers, hair messy and skin shining. They stayed in the intimate silence, eyes lazily roaming each other. Khan pulled the covers up around them as they moved to lay comfortably in the bed together, limbs locked in protective embrace.

"What now?" She whispered.

"Now, sleep. Tomorrow, Kronos."


	14. Chapter 14

_Nyota was in the observatory. She loved to be here in her down time, setting coordinates of galaxies and star systems she had read about and studied into the machines and laying back in the big chair to just gaze at them. The colours were hypnotic, the way some shined so brightly and others seemed dull like glowing fireflies. She found it the most soothing way to calm her mind and help her forget the stresses of the day._

 _To think that none of these stars even existed anymore. If she were to get on a ship and warp to the exact coordinates, she would find mere remnants of the system that she now gazed at. Time and space was awe inspiring, and if she ever lost her appreciation for the magnitude of it all, she knew thats when her life would no longer be worth it._

 _"You have developed a keen past time, Lieutenant." A voice distracted her from her gazing._

 _She drew her eyes away from the view to find Spock had entered the observatory. He stood looking up at her in plain uniform. She smiled at him._

 _"I have. I'm so in love with it all." She said, taking one last glance before hopping down from the pedestal to greet him. They were alone in here, she put her arms around his neck._

 _"You know you can call me by my name when we're not working." She smiled and he relaxed, wrapping his arms around her waist._

 _"I know, Nyota…"_

Nyota awoke with a start, too hot and upset by the dream she had just witnessed. Spock was there, she touched him, it felt real, she remembered exactly the star system which she gazed at. Rubbing her face she sat up and looked to Khan who slept soundly beside her.

Suddenly she felt hollow, almost guilty.

She got out of bed and left Khan's room, returning to her own quarters. She wanted desperately to have a shower, but with no power on the ship, there were no electrics to run it. Instead she filled the sink with whatever hot water was left and washed her skin.

She tied her hair back, splashing her face with the warm water. A flash of her evening spent with Khan jolted through her, the pleasure, the incredible pleasure of him. She leaned her hands on the sink and exhaled. Making eye contact with herself in the mirror, she felt hollow again.

What was she doing? She had not done anything wrong. The truth was Spock was gone, it's not like she just cheated on him, and the sex was completely consensual. She wanted Khan, she could not deny it. Something about him and the magnitude he exudes, and she was fragile right now, she'd been through so much, any comfort to remind her she was human, anything to make this hell stop existing for even just a minute.

But somehow she still felt wrong. She was not over Spock, she was not healed from this horrible ordeal, she had acted on impulse, they both had. Khan was a comfort, he was a draw and she admitted that she needed him right now, she just could not figure out whether this was the situation talking, or if indeed she was developing feelings for this mysterious man who rescued her.

"Nyota, are you alright?"

Khan's voice flowed in from the door, breaking her chain of thoughts. She looked over to him, drying her face with a towel and dropping it by the sink.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She said, eyes drifting to the floor, back up to the mirror, anywhere that was not gazing at the way he stood half-naked in the door frame, looking distractingly beautiful.

Khan stepped into the room, approaching her. "You do not look fine." He studied her, "You can talk to me."

She had to look at him now, he stood close to her, soft gaze open and non-judgemental.

"I just… we shouldn't have…" She gestured her hands to the other room.

"Are you regretting sleeping with me?" He asked.

"No," She said immediately, she did not regret it, she would not wish to go back and undo it, "I don't regret it, it was… it was amazing," She put quickly, Khan smiled, she got to the point, "It's just I was in a relationship with someone, an officer who got killed on the Enlightenment. I sat with his body on that bridge for so long and I just feel…"

She struggled to try to explain, but Khan hushed her.

"It's okay, I understand." He said calmly. "I am not going to pressure you or hound you. I certainly do not regret last night, and would happily repeat the experience with you, but only if it is something you are sure you want to do." He paused, taking her in a moment, "I think you are a phenomenal woman, Nyota, and I will hold our relationship dear, whatever the extent of it. I will respect whatever time you need to figure things out."

Nyota was momentarily speechless. She had not expected the response she received. She was not sure what she expected, maybe anger or jealousy, but she quickly dismissed the notion as she knew, deep down, Khan was not like that. He would not treat other peoples troubles with such a superficial outlook, his responses to her were always far from narcissistic.

She gently touched his cheek.

"Thank you for being so understanding."

"It's my pleasure." He said. "I shall leave you to get some more rest." He turned for the door.

"Wait." She stopped him, feeling somewhat fragile. "I don't want to be alone." She said, "I don't know to what extent, but I… I need you right now."

Khan regarded her, held a hand out to her and she took it. Even if she did not fully understand what she felt herself, he did. He knew the kind of pain of loss, of guilt, the 'why me'. To need the comfort of another but to be so scared to complicate things that you paralyse yourself in chains of self-depreciation because its easier than dragging someone else into your mess. He knew what she had been through, and wanted to be there for her, knowing too well how difficult it is to suffer alone.

He led Nyota to her bed and she crawled in, leaving space after her for him to lay beside her. He pulled the covers up around them. Nyota tucked herself up next to him, seeking comfort, and he obligingly took her into his arms. Her eyes were closed in seconds, still exhausted from it all.

xxxx

Nyota awoke still enveloped in the comfort of Khan's arms. He was warm and his skin was soft, the colour of porcelain. At first glance he looked almost scary; tall with angular features, strong build and an unyielding expression, but there was a depth to him that she would never have believed existed if she had not met him the way she did, if she had not found out who he was, and what he stood for, before seeing him.

She gently ran her fingers down his chest as he slept, watching her fingertips glide over his skin. What would this man be like to love…?

"Good morning." He rumbled, distracting her from her thoughts.

"Morning." She returned, a tired smile gracing her features.

Khan turned his head, looking up out of the window.

"It's getting bright out, we cannot stay here much longer." He looked to her again. "Ready to brave Kronos?"

Nyota took a deep breath. She had never set foot on the Klingon home world before. Why would she have? If a member of Starfleet even so much as sneezed near the vicinity of Klingon space territory they would be hunted down by Klingon patrol birds.

"As ready as I'll ever be." She sat up, stretching. Khan got out of bed.

"We can dress in plain clothing, cover ourselves as best we can. We survived overnight undetected so we will have a pretty good head start."

Up and dressed, Khan and Nyota were cloaked and kitted head to toe. Both wore hooded coats, boots, and weapon holsters over basic Starfleet uniform that they had covered the emblems with using scarves and extra layers. Kronos was not exactly warm, so the padding would be appreciated once they got out there scavenging for a craft.

"All set?" Khan stood by the door of the Opulence. Nyota slid a sheathed knife into her boot, buckling it at the ankle before straightening herself out and taking a breath.

"Lets do this."


End file.
